Harold Mattingly (24 December 1884 – 26 January 1964) was a British

classical scholar Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

, specialising in

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

and

numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includ ...

. His interests included the history of

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy *Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization **Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities ** Etrusca ...

and Roman currency, and the Roman historian

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

Early life and education

Harold Mattingly was born in Sudbury, Suffolk on 24 December 1884. From 1896 to 1903, he was educated at

The Leys School The Leys School is a co-educational independent school in Cambridge, England. It is a day and boarding school for about 574 pupils between the ages of eleven and eighteen, and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. Histo ...

, an independent school in Cambridge. He then studied classics at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...

, where he achieved a

double first The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

and graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

(BA) degree in 1907.

Career

In 1910 he joined the ''Department of Printed Books'' of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. In 1909 and 1914, showing his interest in Roman history, he published two books on the subject. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, worked for the Postal Censorship Bureau. At the close of hostilities he returned to his work at the British Museum and his attention carried him towards the study of antique coins. From 1912, Harold Mattingly was a member of the

Royal Numismatic Society The Royal Numismatic Society (RNS) is a learned society and charity based in London, United Kingdom which promotes research into all branches of numismatics. Its patron was Queen Elizabeth II. Membership Foremost collectors and researchers, bo ...

. He completely revised of the chronology used for the study of Roman coins. He was awarded the

medal of the Royal Numismatic Society The Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society was first awarded in 1883. It is awarded by the Royal Numismatic Society and is one of the highest markers of recognition given to numismatists. The President and Council award the Medal annually to an "in ...

in 1941. He also translated

' works ''Agricola'' and ''Germania''. These two translations were published together in 1948 by Penguin Books under the title ''Tacitus on Britain and Germany''. 27,000 copies of this book were sold in that year. It was reprinted in 1951, 1954, 1960, 1962, 1964 and 1965. The second edition, revised by S A Handford, was published in 1970 under the title ''The Agricola and the Germania''. The book was revised again in 2009 by J B Rives. Mattingly's translation is considered one of the best and is still used (albeit in edited format) today.

Personal life

His son, Harold B. Mattingly (1923-2015) was also a celebrated numismatist, and President of the

1999-2004. Mattingly died on 26 January 1964 at the age of 79 in

Chesham Chesham (, , or ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, south-east of the county town of Aylesbury, north-west of central London, and part of the London commuter belt. It is in the Chess Valley, surrounded by farmla ...

, Buckinghamshire.

Publications

*''Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum'', 6 tomes,

, London, 1923. * (with Edward Allen Sydenham), ''The

Roman Imperial Coinage ''Roman Imperial Coinage'', abbreviated ''RIC'', is a British catalogue of Roman Imperial currency, from the time of the Battle of Actium (31 BC) to Late Antiquity in 491 AD. It is the result of many decades of work, from 1923 to 1994, a ...

'', 10 v., Spink, London, 1923-1994. *''Roman Coins from the Earliest to the Fall of the Western Empire'', Methuen & Co., London, 1928. *''The Date of the Roman Denarius and Other Landmarks in Early Roman Coinage''. H. Milford, London, 1933 *''Some New Studies of the Roman Republican Coinage''. Proceedings of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

: pp. 239–285, 1953.

Notes and references

*"Dr Harold Mattingly, Distinguished Numismatist", The Times, 1 February 1964, p 10 *R A G Carson
"Harold Mattingly 1884-1964"
(1965) Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society, 7th Series, vol 5, p 239

External links

* *

* Roman Imperial Coinage (Fr) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mattingly, Harold People from Sudbury, Suffolk English classical scholars English numismatists English art historians Etruscan scholars 1884 births 1964 deaths Presidents of the Royal Numismatic Society